I'm not a huge Sitwell fan on the face of it, and have not read him in Waitrose magazine, but he does come across as being full of himself.

I can see the Malaysian lady going far, and am also enjoying learning about Portugese food. I'm not getting on with the scheduling though. We're only into week one, and last night's quarter final was disrupted by BBC's concentration on the weather, understandably, so I might get used to it, but there isn't the usual uniformity. And just half an hour for the first QF? Don't they usually get all the qualifiers out of the way before they start knocking people out?

I thought the poached pears in one of the desserts did not look like pears. More like a cross between a pile of slugs and something you might accidentally step on on the pavement......I couldn't have eaten it for that reason.

The best three went through tonight. Had the ejected contestant got through to the QF I would have found it hard to endure.

A comment made by one of the judges (female) made me roar. Something like 'I'm not normally keen on eating doughnuts. Sometimes they can be a bit.......doughy' I think that must surpass anything silly that Pasty has ever said!

Many people I see on tv nowadays appear to me to be in desperate need of a week or two's worth of good hearty meals When you remember that the tv camera puts around 7lbs on your appearance it's very worrying.

I was shocked at the appearance of Thomasina too. Has she been ill recently, I wondered? She didn't look well. Her clothes looked like they were on a wire hanger.

I think the Newcastle Parmo guy scraped through by the skin of his teeth with his offerings. Why didn't he posh it up a bit by at least putting the ketchup in a dipping pot? I do like his televisual style and home style food attitude, but next round he has to surpass the others, not sure he will be able to...

suffolk wrote:Does anyone else think the standard is much more variable this year ?

Yes, I'm inclined to agree with you Suffs.

I was sorry the Iranian woman (I can't remember her name) didn't cook well yesterday as I had liked her in the earlier heats. I like the jolly secretary, Mary (?), the one who did the steak and kidney pie.

I was sorry the blonde pony-tail woman was put out, she did better than the Geordie guy in the previous round, and I didn’t like the sound of any of his food really...and I am a Geordie, but confess to never having had a chicken parmo...but then that’s not really Geordie food, hailing from Middlesbrough.We are in South Spain, near Cadiz for a few weeks, and are having some amazing food, but I must say we could have murdered Mary’s steak and kidney pie last night! Maybe her food is a little bit ‘homely’ for her to get much further.....though I’m sure given time she can up her game.

I think it has turned into car crash TV. Ben served up what looked like cat vomit in a top hat. Toad needs to ditch the cardies. Pasty needs to ditch the waistcoats. Come back Lloyd Grossman, all is forgiven.

I predict a 2018 winner based on this evening's offerings of super gorgeous looking foods. I usually get predictions wrong, but for me, who will surpass Moonira? It was lovely to be reminded about how lovely food such as soups and stews can be when served in a hollowed out bread bowl. I could have dived into that feast head first and wouldn't have wanted to come back up for air!

TeresaFoodie wrote:I was shocked at the appearance of Thomasina too. Has she been ill recently, I wondered? She didn't look well. Her clothes looked like they were on a wire hanger.

She’s on Pointless at the moment. Given that these things are always pre recorded I can’t say she looks any different than she did whenever it was she won Masterchef and opened Wahaca. She often worked in the restaurants in Covent Garden and Westfield and was as thin as a rake.

Last edited by Pepper Pig on March 19th, 2018, 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.